I've really wanted one of these, but the price is what stops me in the end. For the benefits I get from using a VPS, the near wash in price in the end pushes me more towards using the cloud.
~$400USD in the used market for the chassis. Add another ~$100 each for four drives, maybe one extra as a spare, so we're at ~$900 for just the hardware assuming your used box had enough RAM and what not for your needs.
I have cheap electricity right now at ~$0.09/kWh. 0.035kW * 24 * 30 = 25.2kWh/month, * 0.09 = ~$2.27/mo in power costs. I won't add internet costs as I'd have the same internet connection with or without the server.
Over 5 years, the power cost adds up to ~$136.20 at my current rate, which will probably only be higher over the next 5 years. So total costs assuming I don't have any hardware failures outside that one spare hdd over that period is then $1,036.20, or $17.26/mo.
Comparatively, I spend $15/mo for a VPS with a large cloud provider doing similar tasks as what I would use that microserver for. For doing things outside my house, it has far better networking than what I could get at home. It has automated backups stored at that cloud provider. It has way more reliable power than just using my mains (I didn't include UPS costs above!) and generally more reliable internet services. Its running a way newer (more features) and faster processor than that Gen 10 microserver is running. It doesn't take up space in my closet.
There's definitely networking tradeoffs to consider. With the VPS, obviously I'm limited to my internet connection performance and increased latency between the two sites. But conversely, I probably get better performance on most networks outside my home to that VPS. It then really depends on what kind of access patterns you should prioritize.
At the end of that five years, I do technically still have that hardware whereas at the end of 5 years on my VPS I still have a monthly bill. I agree that hardware has an excellent chance of living way more than 5 years, but at the same time it might break somewhere along the way and last you less than 5 years. I definitely have hardware that's lasted over a decade though, so I'd lean towards it lasting a bit more than 5 years.
There's pros and cons both ways to think about, and I don't necessarily think either direction is the answer. The answer really depends on what you're wanting to prioritize.
I do constantly think about these Gen 10's though, they seem pretty awesome!